Client Dining Room & Framed Fabric Panels

I'm helping a client of mine, Malinda, tweak a few things in her formal red dining room. Malinda and I met at the accessory-arranging seminar I did at the Pear Tree Cottage last year and we've been working together since. She really enjoys finding special personal pieces for her home and is so great to work with. She's so encouraing and really has a handle on her style, which tends to be bold, traditional and a tad English. She's typically drawn towards a mix of patterns and is attracted to guilded accents like the sunburst mirror below and bold colors. In her dining room, we've kept all of the existing furniture and introduced some accents and were looking to simply freshen it up.

{Malinda's Dining Room Before}

And now...

{Malinda's Dining Room Now- We layered in more patterns and added framed ikat panels on the walls. We're planning to add a new chandy & chairs under prints}

{the new velvet curtains}

My favorite part of the dining room is the pair of framed Ikat fabric panels I had made:

They add an almost modern, graphic element to the room. They're proteced under UV coated glass and I used a linen liner in the frame to add more texture and a white outline around the fabric. I love the juxtaposition of the fun fresh ikat with the formal guilded frames.

For now, we have these seagrass chairs for balance under the Ikat frames and I love the natural element they add to the room. Eventually we'd like to switch them out to something a bit taller and wider.

Malinda can also keep plants alive!! Isn't her fern gorgeous?:

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little makeover and I can't wait to show you more!! And thanks so much Malinda!!

Gah! I am falling in love with you style! I need to show this post to my husband. We both like traditional style but I keep telling him that it has to have a few fresh elements to keep it from looking out-dated. He can't wrap his head around that; but I'll keep working on him. Great job!

Those Ikat framed fabric panels was pure genius and completely added the perfect edge or tension the room was lacking. It's really fresh and modern now and has that wow factor that makes you take a second look.Bravo, I love it!!

Perfect example of a. something green always warms up a room. b. add texture [banana leaf chair] c. adding the modern large Ikat pattern to lift the eye. You achieved a much more modern and updated look with your changes. Great job!Sherry

Dear Lauren, love the transformation of the dining room--and the addition of the framed ikat fabrics. Your readers may be interested to know that this fabric is KALAH in Blue, available at the Calico Corners - Calico Home stores.

It's only $23.99/yd. and is also available in a Spice color. This fabric is available online at www.calicocorners.com or in any Calico store across the country.

KALAH was also featured in the August issue of Oprah's "O" magazine (page 120) and in a recent issue of LONNY, the online magazine.

Love it. By removing the tablecloth and bringing out the wood tone, it really makes that rug pop. Love Ikat too! Guess it's the textile artist in me. And the fern?! Just the right touch for the space. Great job. Can't wait to see more.

This is great! I love the framed panel of fabric, it brings an extra chic feel into the room without plastering fabric all over. I came across your post this afternoon while browsing interior design blogs and the topic of window treatment selection was very interesting to me. It is true that you must dress your windows appropriately to bring out their true beauty. Thank you for writing and as a special thanks to you and your readers, I would like to offer a 20% off coupon using this code upon checkout: BLG20.

I love your blog. I lovvveee your entry way and I LOVE this project. It's amazing that you don't go crazy repainting and buying all new things and you take what you have and make it work- actually you do more then make it work= you make them magazine worthy! It's incredible!

As a decorator & a textile designer, this is my place to muse... perfection doesn't interest me; Reality and charm do. Fresh floppy flowers from the garden over long-stemmed roses any day, I love it when things are slightly off and tell a story.